Improvement in processes for tanning hides



GEORGE A. BARTENBAOH AND CHARLES RICHTER, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

IMPROVEMENT IN PROCESSES FOR TANNING HIDES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 162,140, dated April20,1875; application filed February 1, 1875.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, GEORGE A. BARTEN- BAGH and CHARLES RICHTER, ofDetroit, in the county of Wayne and State of Michigan, have invented anImproved Process for Tanning Hides, of which the following is aspecification This invention relates to that class of processes employedin tanning hides of every description, a soft leather being producedthereby in a short time without the use of any kind of bark, thefollowing ingredients being used instead of bark: sulphur, gum-arable,wheatbran, sulphuric acid, common salt, and terrajaponica, or Japanearth.

The application of these ingredients by our process is as follows: Formaking lace and whip leather the hides are cleaned after soaking, thehair being removed. Then put them in the following solution, enoughbeing used to fairly submerge them To twenty-five gallons of warm wateradd two pounds of alum, fifteen pounds of salt, one pound sulphuricacid, two pounds of Wheat-bran, two ounces of dissolved sulphur. Thehides are left in this solution from twenty to twentytive minutes, afterwhich one ounce of vitriol, four pounds of salt, and two ounces of alum,dissolved in one-half a gallon of water, are mixed with the solution,and the hides are left to remain in it twenty minutes longer. The hidesare then taken out and well wrung, and hung up to dry in a dark, airyplace. Those intended for whipleather, when dry, are moistened with alittle water, and stretched upon a stretching-iron. Those intended forlacing-leather, after being well dried, are rubbed with a mixture of onepound of fish-oil, one pound of tallow, four ounces of linseed-oil, andtwo ounces of soapsoda in a gallon of hot water.

In making leather for boots the hair may be left on for lining, and thesame process used as in making whip and lacing leather, except thatthere should be added to the solution or mixture two pounds ofterra-japonioa and four ounces of mucilage, and, after the hides aredry, rub them with a mixture of fish-oil, glue, and gum-arabic in aboutequal parts, putting in enough lamp-black to thicken it like paste.

In preparing hides for buffalo-robes, clean the hides well, put them inasolution of alum and water twenty degrees strong, per hydrometer, andleave them fifteen minutes then hang up the hides till the fluid haspassed off;

dump them again in a solution of three pounds sulphuric acid, fourounces of sulphur, four pounds of wheat-bran, and twenty pounds of saltin twenty-five gallons of warm water, enough of the solution being usedto fairly immerse them. Leave them for forty minutes, and then hang themup to dry. These are finished in the same manner as whip leather, andthe hair is combed smooth.

In the manufacture, by our process, of white leather for whips and otherpurposes, the use of terra-japonica, or Japan earth, is omitted.

Our process of tanning hides has the ad vantage of producing a softleather in a very short space of time, the same having a strongerconsistency than heretofore gained by tanning with bark, the hides beingexposed to water or wet substances less than an hour. Leather is alsoproduced with the hair rem aiming, for the manufacture of boots andshoes adapted for warm coverings, dispensing with linings, and producedat a cost much less than by the old method of tanning. It is also betteradapted for tanning robes, the manufacture of belting for machinery, forthe production of a cheap white leather, and a soft and warm coveringfor the foot.

We claim- 1. In the manufacture of leather from hides or skins, thesolutions composed of the ingredients named, in about the proportionsspecified.

2. The manufacture of leather from hides or skins by the application ofthe solutions named, substantiallyin the manner shown and described.

GEO. A. BARTENBAGH. CHARLES RICHTER.

Witnesses EMIL LANDSBERG, AD. WITZLEBEN.

